The Village Cafe is a great restaurant that celebrates local food. Located at 210 West 26th Street Bryan, TX 77803.

Our next farm tour will be planned for September. Between now and then you might want to check out these events:

Fourth of July Locavore BBQ
Date: Sunday, July 4, 2010
Time: 12:00pm – 6:00pm
Location: The Village Downtown
Meat sourced from Wild Type Ranch

The Texas Bluebonnet Wine Trail Festival
Messina Hof in Bryan and Retreat Hill in Navasota both have events planned for July and August.
Messina Hof starts their 5 weekend 10th Annual Harvest Festival July 16th. Check out this link: http://www.messinahof.com/harvest10.php for more information!

Retreat Hill Winery & Vineyard (http://www.retreathill.com/) is celebrating their first anniversary with a concert by Slick Hiway on July 31, 2010 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. during the last weekend of the Texas Bluebonnet Wine Trail, Harvest Trail. (www.texasbluebonnetwinetrail.com/)

The trip will leave at 4:00 pm from the Brazos Natural Foods parking lot (4303 S. Texas Ave. Bryan, TX 77802).  RSVP requested to Nathanael at brazoslocavores@gmail.com

The trip will leave at 1pm from the Brazos Natural Foods parking lot (4303 S. Texas Ave. Bryan, TX 77802).  If you wish to drive to King’s Orchard we will meet there at 2pm. RSVP requested to Nathanael at brazoslocavores@gmail.com

Visit their website at: http://www.kingsorchard.com/

The trip will leave at 1:00 pm from the Brazos Natural Foods parking lot (4303 S. Texas Ave. Bryan, TX 77802). If you are driving to the farm plan to arrive at 2:00 pm.  RSVP requested to Nathanael at brazoslocavores@gmail.com

Visit their website at : http://www.sandcreekfarm.net/

Join us on March 28th at the Ranch around 2pm or at Brazos Natural Foods (4303 S. Texas Ave. Bryan, TX 77802) at 1pm to carpool. Please RSVP to Nathanael Proctor at brazoslocavores@gmail.com or 979-412-1375 by March 24.

Check out their website at http://www.twincreeksranch.biz

Do you know where to find local, sustainably-produced meats? Join the Brazos Locavores for their February field trip and discover for yourself how and where sustainable beef, chicken, and pork are raised as we visit Yonder Way Farm in Brenham TX.

Situated 45 minutes south of Bryan-College Station in Washington County, Yonder Way Farm began in 2006 when owners Jason and Lynsey Kramer were looking for the simple life; to farm the way nature intended. Yonder Way Farm is applying to become the very FIRST certified organic chicken processing facility in the state of Texas. We will get to tour the newly finished chicken processing facility and take a hay ride tour of the farm.

Here’s the Scoop:

What: Brazos Locavore Field Trip to Yonder Way Farms

Who: Everyone is invited and be sure to bring the kids!

When: Sunday, February 21st (1:00 – 5:00 PM)

Where: Meet up at Brazos Natural Foods to carpool out to the farm

RSVP: To Nathanael at brazoslocavores@gmail.com by Wednesday, Feb 17 (I need to prepare the farm for the number of attendees)

For more information about Yonder Way Farm, visit their website (http://yonderwayfarm.com/).

See you there!

Location:
Horticulture-Forestry Science Building on West Campus

See their website for more information:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/holisticgarden/

Thanks to Heath Vesely, Plant Sale Manager (TAMU ‘10) for sharing the info!

Welcome to Millican Farms

On Sunday, the Brazos Locavores visited Tanya Miller and Steve King of Millican Farms, formerly known as Millican Produce. They supply greenhouse-grown tomatoes to the Brazos Valley Farmers’ Market, several local grocery stores and many of the finer restaurants in town.

Steve and Tanya give us the background on their farm

Farming is in Steve and Tanya’s blood; both grew up in families that farmed, which naturally encouraged them to seek plant-oriented careers. About six years ago they decided to construct their own greenhouses for off-season tomato production, a niche market that until then did not exist in the Brazos Valley.

January in the greenhouse

1000 indeterminate (vine type) tomato plants greeted us as we walked into the 6000 square foot greenhouse for a tour. Each is planted in a five gallon coconut coir filled polypropylene bag that is connected to the watering and fertilization system. The trellising is particularly interesting as each plant is wound around a polypropylene spool that hangs from the greenhouse “rafters.” As the plants grow up, the strings and attached tomato plants are lowered for ease of harvest. Simultaneously, the plant suckers are pruned and flower clusters pollinated by hand. Using this method, they can harvest an average yield of 22-25 pounds of fruit per plant. That’s a lot of tomatoes!

Tomatoes are grown in coconut coir filled bags

Tanya demonstrates her growing techniques

Millican Farms produces beefsteak or dutch type tomatoes, and now by popular demand are growing grape, cherry and roma type tomatoes. You can’t find prettier tomatoes than these:

Steve and Tanya discussed their methods of heating the greenhouse (propane and wood), watering (reverse-osmosis to filter out salts), fertilizing and pest management. While they aren’t certified organic, they try to utilize as many organic techniques as they can.

Yellow sticky cards indicate pest levels

Millican Farms also produces lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, bell peppers, melons, herbs and eggs. At the end of the tour, Steve and Tanya had an exciting announcement: in April, they are launching their inaugural CSA (community supported agriculture), in which 25 members will pay for and receive 12 weeks of produce from the farm. See their website for more information. But don’t worry, they’ll still be selling their beautiful produce at the weekly farmers’ markets and local grocery stores.

Farm fresh produce for sale

A BIG thanks to Tanya and Steve for hosting a record turnout of 50 locavores on a beautiful January day!

Tomatoes in January - Go Texan

This post originally published at http://grwhryrpltd.wordpress.com/ and shared with permission. All photos copyright Andrea Fox, 2010.

Tanya Miller and Steve King of Millican Farms have announced the inaugural season of a brand new CSA in town. The first season’s membership will run from April 12, 2010 through July 3, 2010, for 12 weeks of farm fresh produce to include a variety of tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, and herbs as well as other seasonal crops like lettuce, cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, a variety of greens, carrots, beets, onions, potatoes, squash, beans, peas, peppers and much more.

Interested in finding out more about the Millican Farms CSA? Contact the farm at csa@MillicanFarms.com or visit their website.